Muslims and Christians who form half of
humanity in the global population may not agree with each other on
everything, but this does not mean we should become foes and be headed
for a showdown. Together we (the adherents of both the religions) could
create a better and more peaceful world if we joined hands.
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| Pastor Terry Jones calls for Quran burning |
The scriptures of both the faiths come
from the same source and our prophets had a common ancestor (Abraham).
The Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) had immense love and respect
for Jesus Christ and his mother Mary. The Muslim holy Book (Quran)
declares that Mary was a virtuous woman and Allah preferred her above
women of all nations. When going through the Islamic Scripture you will
find more references to Jesus than the Prophet of Islam himself.
Furthermore, Islam makes it an article of faith to believe in Jesus and
accept him as a Messenger of Allah.
The Quran mentions that Jesus was born
miraculously without a father and Allah bestowed him powers to perform
miracles as a sign to convince the Israelites that he was a prophet of
God sent with a mission. Allah conferred Jesus the powers to give life
to dead, restore sight to blind and heal lepers (people with leprosy).
Mary, the mother of Jesus is mentioned by name in the Quran 34 times
whereas none of the beloved wives or daughters of Prophet Mohammed
(pbuh) is mentioned by name. Further it says Jesus, the Messiah was
saved from humiliation and a cruel death on the cross, and he is held in
honour in this world and the hereafter, and is one of those near to
Allah.
If you go through the Islamic history
you will find that Muslims never forced Christians to convert or accept
Islam and even in conquered lands the dwellings and churches of
Christians were not violated. The rights of non-Muslims (Jews,
Christians, Sabians, Hindus, Magians or Zoroastrians) and their places
of worship were protected and their safety guaranteed under Islamic
rule. However, non-Muslims were not allowed to propagate their religion
in a manner to win converts from amongst Muslims. The holy Quran clearly
mentions that Muslims have no right to forcefully convert non-Muslims
into their religion. No compulsion, coercion or duress could be applied
under any circumstances to bring a non-Muslim into the fold of Islam.
Pastor Terry Jones, the Islamophobic US
evangelical preacher who supervised the burning of a Quran in his church
last month after a mock court hearing is considering to stage a similar
trial on the life of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) at a later date. After the
provocative act, the Florida church pastor claimed that last month's
Quran burning was different as the Islamic holy Book had first been put
on ‘trial’ and was then set alight as punishment after it was found
guilty of ‘crimes against humanity’.
It seems unlikely or perhaps impossible
that mass murderers like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol
Pot and Genghis Khan drew any inspiration from Quran since they were
non-Muslims. One of the biggest mass murders and crimes against humanity
committed in modern times occurred in the so called civilised Christian
Europe. The most brutal wars in history involving millions of deaths
have been fought by the Christian nations. It is interesting to note
that the most lethal and dangerous weapons that threatens the survival
of human race on earth were invented and owned by Christian nations long
before the Muslims even possessed heavy artillery.
Pastor Jones rejects the idea that Islam
is a religion of peace, if so where on earth the Quran calls for
violence against innocent human beings? Perhaps the pastor of this
little known church in Florida does not know much about the things
mentioned in Quran. The Quran clearly says that if someone kills an
innocent person, it is like he has killed the whole of humanity, and if
someone saves a human being, it is as if he has saved the whole of
mankind. It does not say that you save the humanity only if you save a
Muslim or someone who agrees to accept Islam.
Pastor Jones may not know that in Islam,
Muslims are not permitted to blaspheme or defame a deity or a religious
teacher of any other religion even though Muslims do not believe in
those religions. Muslims are not even permitted to desecrate non-Muslim
places of worship even if there is no danger of any retaliation or
reprisal from non-Muslims. In the early days of Islam, the Prophet
Mohammed (pbuh) and his companions fought the idolaters to defend the
synagogues, churches and mosques in Medina (Yathrib).
Someone might raise the question saying
why there are no churches or synagogues in Medina these days. To build a
mosque in place of a church is no desecration of a non-Muslim place of
worship if the real owners of it convert to Islam and there is no one in
that land to claim the place or worship in it. In the same way all the
Buddhist or Hindu temples in Maldives got disappeared when all the
Maldivians got converted to Islam in the years following 1153 AD. If
someone is so eager to raise the question why Muslims do not allow
churches to be built in Medina, the answer is that Christians have no
right to re-establish churches in Medina in the same manner as they do
not allow Muslims to build mosques in Vatican (the heartland of
Christendom). Even if the land area occupied by Vatican previously had
Roman temples, the Catholic Church will not consider it a valid reason
to allow such temples to be built in Vatican.
Pastor Jones first decided to make a
bonfire of the holy Quran coinciding with the ninth anniversary of 9/11
last year, then what he called ‘Burn a Quran Day’. After worldwide
protests, Mr Jones was persuaded not to go ahead with his planned event
for the time being by appeals from President Barack Obama and General
David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan who were concerned over
the fallout on US military personnel serving in that country.
Though a news blackout was carried out
over pastor Jones desecration of Muslim holy Scripture, thousands of
people in Afghanistan took to the streets to protest and violence broke
out in Mazar-e-Sharif. The radical pastor believes that Muslims living
in the United States do not honour and obey or submit to the
Constitution of the United States and they are going to impose sharia
law upon everyone. The pastor who has little or no knowledge about
Quran fails to understand that US Muslims belong there as much as he
belongs to that country. The Quranic law or teachings are to be obeyed
and followed by believers only and Muslims are not instructed to impose
them on non-Muslims.
There are signs that Pastor Terry Jones
is mentally unstable or perhaps deranged, if not he is suffering from
paranoia. On 22 April, the radical Pastor accidentally discharged his
gun inside his car at a parking lot of a TV station (Fox 2 office) after
taking part in a show, along with Hassan al-Qazwini, the imam of
Dearborn’s Islamic Centre. Pastor Jones said to the police on the scene
the gun was fired by accident and the bullet went into the floorboard of
his car.
He had planned a ‘Good Friday’ protest
near Dearborn’s Islamic Centre, the largest mosque in North America to
announce that Muslims in the United States have a hidden terrorist
agenda. However, a court in Michigan summoned Pastor Jones and his
associate Wayne Sapp and ruled that the planned protest near the mosque
was illegal as it could lead to violence. During his court appearance,
Pastor Jones argued that the Quran ‘promotes terrorist activities around
the world’. Nevertheless, Judge Mark Somers set bond at the symbolic
amount of one dollar each for the two pastors, which they initially
refused to pay. Following their refusal, both were escorted to a local
jail and put in behind bars. Under the judge's ruling, both Pastor Jones
and Mr Sapp were prohibited by the court from going to the mosque for
three years.
People who are eager to defend the
provocation committed by Pastor Jones may argue that Muslims who wanted
to get rid of old copies of Quran have always burned them in the past.
They do not know or perhaps do not want to believe that it is a
sacrilegious act to throw Quran into rubbish dumps or allow them to be
trampled by throwing on the streets but burning the Book out of respect
is permissible. The Quran is the word of God and burning the holy Book
out of anger or hatred is a form of desecration or disbelief even if it
is done by Muslims.
It has recently been found in the
Maldives that many Maldivian households in Malé have thrown numerous old
and new copies of Quran into public rubbish dumps. This was probably
done out of ignorance or not knowing the proper method of their disposal
at a moment when the house needs to be demolished for rebuilding or
moving to a new place. After having removed all the needed stuff, the
copies of Quran are left behind among the old unwanted printed
materials, thinking that Bangladeshi labourers will handle them
properly. However, most Bangladeshi expatriate workers in this country
are illiterate and careless people and their only concern is money.
Therefore, it is no wonder that many copies of the holy Quran ended
among heaps of garbage. We also have to take into consideration that the
negligence of expatriate labourers is not the only thing responsible
for this sacrilegious act.
………………………………………Written by: Ibrahim Nazim
25 April 2011, Monday
21 Jumaada al-awal 1432
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